Giants-Pirates Lines Preview

The Pittsburgh Pirates will be fighting to snap a losing streak on Friday when they take on the San Francisco Giants at PNC Park. The Giants will give the ball to starter Barry Zito in this one. Lefthander Zito is 5-9 this season with a 5.01 ERA. Starting this game for the Pirates will be ace Paul Maholm. The lefthander has a 4.60 ERA to go along with a 6-4 record this season. Oddsmakers currently have the Giants listed as 155-moneyline favorites versus the Pirates, while the game's total has not yet been posted. The Giants lost to San Diego 10-4 as a -130 favorite on Sunday. The 14 runs scored went OVER the posted over/under total (8). John Bowker homered and drove in two runs for San Francisco, while Barry Zito was ripped for nine runs on 10 hits in 4 1-3 innings. The Pirates lost to Philadelphia 5-2 as a +210 underdog on Sunday. The seven runs scored fell UNDER the posted over/under total (9.5). Freddy Sanchez was 2-4 with an RBI for Pittsburgh and Virgil Vasquez allowed five runs on four hits in only 1 1-3 innings. Current streak: Pittsburgh has lost 4 straight games. Team records: San Francisco: 49-39 SU Pittsburgh: 38-50 SU San Francisco most recently: When playing on Friday are 6-4 Before playing Pittsburgh are 2-8 After playing San Diego are 4-6 After a loss are 6-4 Pittsburgh most recently: When playing on Friday are 5-5 Before playing San Francisco are 7-3 After playing Philadelphia are 4-6 After a loss are 3-7 A few trends to consider: The total has gone OVER in 5 of San Francisco's last 7 games when playing Pittsburgh San Francisco is 5-2 SU in its last 7 games The total has gone UNDER in 4 of San Francisco's last 6 games The total has gone OVER in 4 of San Francisco's last 6 games when playing on the road against Pittsburgh The total has gone UNDER in 7 of Pittsburgh's last 8 games at home Pittsburgh is 4-1 SU in its last 5 games when playing at home against San Francisco Pittsburgh is 14-4 SU in its last 18 games when playing San Francisco The total has gone UNDER in 13 of Pittsburgh's last 17 games Next up: Pittsburgh home to San Francisco, Saturday, July 18